


close quarters

by Jules1398



Category: For the People (TV 2018)
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-26 18:21:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19011316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jules1398/pseuds/Jules1398
Summary: five times jay and seth had guests over and one time they were alone.





	close quarters

**Author's Note:**

> i was gonna do chapter 2 of my hogwarts au tn too but ig things don't always work out f  
> [come talk to me about jayseth legends](http://setholiver.tumblr.com/)

_ 1\. Kate _

On what was only the fifth day of them living together, Jay came home from work only to find some very unexpected and frankly unwanted company sitting at his kitchen table.

“What are you doing here? he asked Kate, crossing his arms over his chest.

She looked down at the plate of food in front of her and then back up at Jay. “I’m eating.”

“This is my apartment!” he exclaimed. “My safe space!”

Seth came in from the kitchen giving him a weird look. “It’s my apartment too and I thought it would be okay if I had a friend over.”

Jay forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, sure. Of course, that’s fine. Why wouldn’t it be fine?”

“Are you alright?” Seth asked.

“Fantastic,” Jay replied walking into his room and shutting the door behind him.

Sure, he was fine with guests, but did it really have to be Kate fucking Littlejohn? There was no way that Seth didn’t know that she kind of freaked Jay out what with the fact that she was a scary unstoppable lawyer who absolutely obliterated Jay on his first case.

It was less than a minute before he heard a knocking on his door. “Jay, can I come in.”

Jay sighed and got up to open the door for Seth, who walked inside and closed it again behind him.

“Look, I’m sorry-” Jay started.

“No, dude. I’m sorry,” Seth replied. “I never should have invited somebody over without checking with you first. It’s like, common roommate courtesy if you haven’t established rules with that stuff yet. Next time I’ll tell you first. It was just that Kate’s having a rough time with her case and she’s always there for me when I need help, so I decided to repay the favor.”

“No, it’s totally fine man, I’m just being dramatic,” Jay said with a sigh. “Truth is, I’m still slightly intimidated by Kate and it was a shock to see her here, in my own apartment. But you were right. It’s your place too and you’re free to have people over, especially someone that’s been such a good friend to you.”

Seth smiled. “For what it’s worth, I really do think you two could get along once you get to know her.”

Jay tried and failed to hold in a laugh. “I’ll take your word for that, Seth.”

“Do you want to come out and eat with us?”

He shook his head. “I’m not quite hungry yet, but you two have a nice time.”

Seth reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “We’ll do dinner tomorrow, dude. Just you and me.”

* * *

_ 2\. Sandra _

The next time they had a visitor, neither of them expected it. They were sitting together on the couch, watching Rocky IV when someone started pounding on their door.

“I’ve seen this like a billion times before, so I’ll get it,” Seth offered. “It’s probably the landlord, come to yell at us for nothing again.”

Seth got up and answered the door, only to find Sandra Bell on the other side.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said cooly, pushing past him to get inside.

“Of course it’s me. I live here!” he exclaimed.

Jay paused the movie and walked over to them. “Sandra, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” she replied. “It’s just been a long day and I can’t find my file for the Vinelli case. I was wondering if you might have picked it up by mistake.”

Jay walked over to the kitchen table and opened his briefcase, looking through it for the file. “I don’t see anything.”

“Alright. I’ll get going then,” Sandra said, smiling what was very obviously a forced smile and walking out the door, shutting it behind her.

Jay shook his head. “I don’t know what her problem is. Sure, Sandra can be hotheaded at times, but she’s usually nicer than that. Outside of the courtroom, at least.”

Seth shrugged, but Jay could tell that he wasn’t as nonchalant as he tried to portray himself to be. “She just doesn’t like me. Even when Allison and I were together, she wasn’t a fan. Since we broke up, things have just gotten worse.”

He frowned. “Why wouldn’t she like you?”

“I wasn’t good enough for Allison. Everybody knows that,” Seth mumbled. “She’s like this amazing girl and I’m just  _ me _ .”

Jay smiled softly and set a hand on Seth’s shoulder, mimicking what he had done to comfort him the other day. “Well, if it means anything, I think you’re pretty great. Just because you and Allison don’t work together, doesn’t mean that you’re not good enough for her or vice versa. Anybody would be more than lucky to have you.”

A small smile began to grow on Seth’s face and Jay was glad that he had put it there.

* * *

_ 3\. Leonard _

When Leonard came over, it wasn’t a surprise. Seth had texted Jay in advance letting him know that the two of them would be working on a case when he got home and not to bother to include him in his dinner plans because they were picking up something fast on the way back from the office.

What Jay didn’t expect, though, was that Leonard would be so  _ friendly _ . Most of the times that they had previously interacted, a case had been involved and Leonard had proved to be quite competitive. This time, however, there was nothing in between them.

Seth got up at one point to run to the grocery store down the road for a late night snack, leaving Leonard behind, and he joined Jay in their living room.

“What are you working on?” Leonard asked him.

Jay closed the file on his lap. “Just a case. You two brought the overall vibe of work home, so I thought that I might as well try to get something done as well.”

“You know, Kate might have had doubts about you once, but you seem like a pretty chill guy, Jay,” Leonard said. “Oliver might be a pain in the ass half the time, but I’m glad he’s got someone like you by his side, man.”

Jay furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. They were roommates, but he wasn’t sure if they were even technically friends yet. “Yeah, I mean it’s better than living alone, I guess. Seth thrives when he’s around other people.”

“That’s very true,” he agreed. “But I have it on good authority that he especially thrives when he’s around you.”

“What does that me-” Jay started, but he was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.

“They didn’t have the pack of Entenmann’s that was all the chocolate crumb donuts, so I had to settle for the chocolate lover’s variety pack. WHich, now thinking about it, might be better since I didn’t ask if you liked crumb donuts. But if you only do like them, please don’t eat both because I want one as well. Aw shit, I forgot to ask Jay if he wanted-”

Seth stopped when he saw them sitting together in the living room, glancing between them worriedly. “What were you guys talking about?”

Leonard grinned. “Not much. I was just telling Jay about how I admire the feel of your apartment. Sure, mine is nicer and bigger and has more expensive things, but yours just has this homey charm to it.”

“That sounds vaguely like a backhanded insult,” Seth said, squinting at him.

“It’s not,” Jay butted in. “He thinks it’s nice. Donut time?”

Seth blinked for a moment and then smiled. “Yeah. Donut time.”

* * *

_ 4\. Allison _

Jay wasn’t aware that Seth and Allison were still friends. In fact, he was sure that quite the opposite was true seeing as Seth had previously told him that he had wanted to take it further a while back, but she had chosen somebody new over him.

And yet, Jay heard their voices drifting from the other side of Seth’s bedroom door when he had gotten home from having lunch at his parents' house.

He tried to resist listening in, but something made him stop just outside Seth’s door to hear what they were saying. A moment or two couldn’t hurt, right?

“I just really don’t understand why you called me over for this in the first place,” Allison said.

“We’re friends,” he replied.

Allison sighed. “Seth, we aren’t friends. We were together and now we’re exes. Even when we were trying to be friends after the breakup, we never actually succeeded. We were on our way to getting back together.”

This sounded personal. Every moral bone in Jay’s body was screaming for him to walk away. This wasn’t his conversation to hear. And yet, his feet remained firmly planted.

“And then we didn’t,” Seth said quietly.

“And then we didn’t,” Allison agreed. “And if you did want to be friends, then this isn’t the place to start. A casual coffee and talking about sports or something is friend behavior. Not sitting in your bedroom talking about-”

“Allison, please,” Seth begged.

She sighed again. “Well, I’m already here, I guess.”

“I really, truly think that I have feelings for-” Seth started.

Jay finally walked away, curling his hands into fists. He didn’t want to hear this. He wasn’t  _ supposed to  _ hear these. Seth and Allison were probably getting back together, despite what Leonard had hinted at before.

He felt like the dumbest fucking idiot in the world.

* * *

  
_ 5\. Lara _ _  
_

Was inviting his ex-girlfriend over because he was jealous of Seth petty? Potentially. Was it pointless? Most definitely. Did Jay do it? Absolutely.

Lara came over after work Thursday night. Seth had court that day and Jay knew that he was probably going to get back late because that meant he would most have to stop by the office afterward.

“So,” Jay said when they got inside. “Do you want to order food or something?”

She shook her head. “I have plans later tonight. That means we need to start the bird documentary you found asap or we won’t get through it.”

Jay nodded. “Got it.”

He led her toward the living room and they sat on the couch together as he pulled up a random bird documentary he had found on Netflix. He didn’t really know anything about it other than it was sure to convince Lara to show up even though they hadn’t exactly hung out in months.

Once it had started, Lara spoke to him, not taking her eyes off of the screen. “So, why the sudden interest in my marvelous company.”

“You’re cool,” Jay said with a shrug.

“Well, obviously,” she replied. “But I’ve been cool in the months where you totally ghosted me as well.”

Jay looked down at his hands, not really sure how to reply. He should have broken things off in a real way instead of just kind of disappearing. Sure, he was coming to terms with the fact that he wasn’t actually attracted to girls at all, but she at least deserved to hear that it was over.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know this isn’t really an excuse, but it’s because I’m gay.”

She turned to look at him. “You’re right. That isn’t an excuse. I forgive you, though, seeing as I’m like 100% a lesbian. That’s why I said no to dinner, actually. I have date with my girlfriend tonight.”

“That’s really cool actually,” Jay said.

The sound of the front door opening made him jump in his seat. “Jay, dude, I’m home,” Seth called out.

Jay’s eyes widened in panic and he scooted closer to Lara. “Anyway tell me about birds.”

“Well, you would know more if you were actually paying any attention,” she scolded.

Seth walked into the room on his way to his bedroom, looking between them with a mixture of shock and what looked like disappointment. “Oh,” he said. “I thought we were doing dinner tonight.”

Lara smiled widely. “I’ll be gone by then. No worries.”

“Okay,” Seth replied. “I guess I’ll just-”

“Go,” Jay finished for him. “You should go change out of your suit since that can’t be comfortable after a day in court.”

“Actually it breathes quite nicely-” Seth started.

“I’m trying to hang out with Lara,” Jay said, a twinge of irritation in his voice.

Seth looked almost  _ hurt _ as he walked back to his room.

“Dude, you’re kind of a mess,” Lara told Jay once Seth was out of earshot. “Inviting me over just to make him jealous is kind of shitty.”

He sighed. “I haven’t exactly been the best when it comes to morals or being a good friend lately.”

“Alright,” she replied, standing up. “Well, I really think you should tell him the truth about your feelings and I would like you to text me not when you need something, but when you want to actually be friends.”

She walked out of his apartment without saying goodbye and Jay rubbed at his eyes before looking up at the TV. “It’s just me and you birds in this now, huh?”

* * *

_ +1 _

Saturday brunch that weekend was so far kind of rough. Seth wasn’t exactly talking to him, but he wasn’t ignoring him either, so Jay wasn’t sure exactly what to do. He settled for eating his eggs and turkey bacon which Seth had prepared for him despite them being questionably in a fight.

“Did your evening with Lara go well?” Seth asked finally.

Jay shook his head. “She left not long after you got home. I was kind of a dick to her, I guess. I want to be friends but, you know.”

“Oh boy, do I,” Seth agreed. “I’ve been trying to fix things with Allison lately because she’s really important to me, but it’s a rocky road. I had her over last week, though, and I think it went well.”

He bit his lip. “So, you two are getting back together then?”

Seth’s eyes widened. “What? No. We’re trying to build a friendship. Everything between us is in the past. Like 9000 times over.”

“That’s a lot of over,” Jay remarked.

“It is,” Seth agreed. “I needed some relationship advice and I didn’t know who else to ask.”

“You could have asked me,” Jay replied. “You know that you can tell me anything, Seth.”

Seth took a deep breath. “Well, actually, Jay I couldn’t ask you for advice. Not about this.”

He dropped his fork. “Why?” he asked, although he already knew the answer.

“I asked Allison to come over so that she could give me advice because I think I’m falling for you,” Seth confessed. “I understand if you want me to go stay somewhere else but-”

Jay shook his head and stood up, walking around to the other side of the table which was, by the way, far too large for a house of only two people, and put his hands on either side of Seth’s face.

“I’ve been fucking jealous of you and Allison all damn week,” he said before pressing their lips together. Seth responded quickly, wrapping his arms around Jay’s back and pulling him closer, deepening the kiss.

When Jay finally pulled away because the awkward angle was kind of making his back hurt, they were both breathless.

“I’ve wanted to do that for so long,” Jay confessed.

Seth smiled loopily. “Me too.”

“We’re so stupid,” Jay told him. “We could have been together for a while now.”

“It’s part of our charm,” Seth said.

“Do you want to kiss again?” Jay asked. “Preferably both standing or both sitting this time.” He paused before adding, “Or both laying.”

“Forever and ever,” he replied.

And well, Seth was right. Sure, it seemed like it had taken them a while to get their shit together, but now they had until the end of time to do this thing.


End file.
